Another -8 on the radar for us and looking at a combination of SB fuselage and QB wings.....with the thoughts of getting a lot of work done while waiting for the (now) seven month lead time.

A couple of questions for those who have built the "new" SB fuselage.... Is the wing spar box pre assembled? If so, that's a big chunk of work! Also, any regrets for going the SB route as opposed to the QB?

I may be stepping in it, but as far as I know and this goes back to the low 100's of the SN. the Trough box come matched to the wing spars for your wings. The spars and the Trough section are put together at the same time, matched and numbered to stay together. We did slow & slow & slow & slow.
The center section came with the wings to be set aside and matched to those spars where it later would be installed in the cockpit structure. You may wish to check with Van's and see if this still holds to this day.
Yours, R.E.A. III #80888

I bought a slow build wing and fuselage kit at different times with the fuselage kit packed May 2015 - fairly recent.

The center section ships with the fuselage kit not the wing kit and comes in a bag as two halves separated by foam. The web and bars are already riveted. You have to add bulkheads, seat brackets and rivet the two halves of the center section together.

Center section out of the box

I had one minor panic building my center section. Both the spars and center section are numbered. Those numbers must be important, right? But the spar and center numbers do not match. Would my spars fit the center? Of course Vans was closed for the night.

Next morning tech support assured me that Vans does not ship matching centers and wings for the RV-8. Years ago before the pre-punch kits they shipped center sections with the wings. Now the tooling is so accurate they ship the center with the fuselage kits and parts will fit even thought numbers do not match.

In fact there is no way to get a matching set of numbers. To support that Vans would need to keep center sections lying around for years waiting for builders to complete wings.

I had one minor panic building my center section. Both the spars and center section are numbered. Those numbers must be important, right? But the spar and center numbers do not match. Would my spars fit the center? Of course Vans was closed for the night.

Next morning tech support assured me that Vans does not ship matching centers and wings for the RV-8. Years ago before the pre-punch kits they shipped center sections with the wings. Now the tooling is so accurate they ship the center with the fuselage kits and parts will fit even thought numbers do not match.
Bob

Similar panic for me couple weeks ago when my 7 wings came in. Center section with it, but different #'s. Vans noted serials on the bill of lading, so I assumed they knew what they were doing...

Vans did used to ship center sections (with #'s that matched the wing spars), with the wing kit so that everything stayed together as a matched set (this was even done with the earlier pre-punched kits).

Over time, the production process for the spar and center sections got accurate enough that this was no longer necessary.

So if someone were to purchase an early vintage pre-punched wing kit, it could be important that they be sure to also get the center section that was originally shipped with it.

__________________Any opinions expressed in this message are my own and not necessarily those of my employer.

Yes, and also be aware of the steps involved with creating wood spacers to go into the spar prior to attaching the wings.

The instructions talk about the importance of getting these exactly the right width, bolting them in place, etc.

All turns out to be unnecessary anymore with the accuracy of the prebuilt spars.

I still use them, and recommend that others do also.
There is some slight variability in the the alignment of dimple countersunk holes.
It only takes a gap of a few thousandths of an inch under sized to make it very difficult to get the wing installed.

__________________Any opinions expressed in this message are my own and not necessarily those of my employer.

I still use them, and recommend that others do also.
There is some slight variability in the the alignment of dimple countersunk holes.
It only takes a gap of a few thousandths of an inch under sized to make it very difficult to get the wing installed.

Scott is right on the money here with this suggestion. We made a set from aged Red Oak and had them milled to just a few thousands over. They were made so they would stick out about a foot on each side and match drilled to the same spacing as the spars. This allowed us to mount dolly wheels on each side so it was easy to move the assembly around later on. Yes we painted one Red and one Green. Hope this helps, Yours, R.E.A. III #80888

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